Russian-beheaded Ukrainian soldier lived in Nagyszőlős

Photo: Creative Commons

A video went viral last week showing a Ukrainian soldier and some Russians who executed him cold-bloodedly. The victim’s name was Szerhij Pataki (or Potoki in Ukrainian), and he lived in Nagyszőlős (Vynohradiv), a small town of 25 thousand inhabitants in Transcarpathia. Transcarpathia is a region of Ukraine near the Hungarian border where more than 100 thousand Hungarians live. They did not move there. They were born there as members of the indegenous Hungarian community. Thus, it is not surprising that a quarter of Nagyszőlős’s population was Hungarian before the Russian invasion, while the mayor is also Hungarian, István Bocskai.

According to telex.hu, Mr Pataki had two kids, a 6-year-old daughter and an 18-month-old son. Ukrainian government sources confirmed that he was the victim of the Russian brutality committed in Bakhmut, the Ukrainian city, where fighting is the most serious currently. According to eyewitnesses and troopers, the situation in the city turned into a battleground is like WWI and WWII.

A councillor of the Nagyszőlős municipal council said the Russians took his phone and recorded what they did to him to show everybody. Vicseszlav Kusz added that Pataki worked in the local market and sold vegetables and fruits. He became a soldier after the mobilisation.

Here is a photo of him:

The man Szerhij Pataki (Ukrainian spelling Сергій Потокі), beheaded by Russian soldiers in Bakhmut in the infamous video, was from Nagyszőlős (Vynohradiv) in Transcarpathia. Ukrainian government sources say that he was indeed the victim. https://t.co/vCZDIzhyma pic.twitter.com/WqnsJrttMy

— Dénes Törteli 🇪🇺🇭🇺🇺🇦 (@DenesTorteli) April 20, 2023

The Ukrainian army confirmed

Pataki has been serving in Bakhmut, one of the hotspots of Russian aggression in Ukraine. The city has been under siege since July. At peacetime, 70 thousand people used to live in the city. Now, there are only 4 thousand, mostly old people, who would not like to flee their homes. Experts tend to compare the fight there to the ones in WWI, especially Verdun, because both parties lost a lot of soldiers.

Pataki died in March, which was made public without additional information. His execution appeared first on Twitter on 11 April. The video went viral almost immediately but was deleted shortly after that. On 12 April, the Ukrainian army confirmed one of their soldiers is the victim. They said Russians captured him but did not tell his name. Now we know. RIP.